INSIDE RETAILING.

Walgreens Quiet About Catching Up On-line

February 27, 1999|By Susan Chandler.

Walgreen Co., the world's largest drugstore chain, isn't used to being behind the curve. Drive-through pharmacies? The Deerfield-based retailer has bunches of them. St. John's wort, gingko biloba and other trendy herbal products? Walgreens is your place.

Yet when it comes to the Internet, Walgreens is no trend-setter. The company has no Web site and is tight-lipped about its on-line strategy. Walgreens is working on a site, but what products will be offered and when are competitive secrets, Chief Executive L. Daniel Jorndt told reporters at the company's annual meeting last month.

FOR THE RECORD - Additional material published March 2, 1999:Corrections and clarifications.A column in Saturday's Business section incorrectly stated that Walgreen Co. does not have a Web site. The company has a corporate Web site that allows customers to refill their prescriptions and then pick them up at a Walgreens store. It does not yet have an electronic commerce site that allows shoppers to purchase prescriptions or other items on-line. The Tribune regrets the error.

We're guessing the Walgreens Web site-development team is feeling a little jumpy these days.

On Thursday, drugstore.com went on-line as the first major cyberspace pharmacy, offering not only prescriptions drugs but over-the-counter items such as cosmetics, vitamins, toothpaste and shampoo.

Last month, Soma.com joined the growing universe of e-commerce sites, specializing in prescriptions and over-the-counter drugs such as Advil and Benedryl.

And within a month, PlanetRx.com will open its doors on the Web, with a big boost from a relationship with America Online Inc.

The attraction of drugs is obvious. Prescription drugs are commodity products just like books, music and videos, the best-selling items on the Internet today. The opportunity to have drugs and shampoo delivered to your door is attractive for the time-starved as well as the infirm.

"There is a lot of market to fight for," says Ken Cassar, an analyst with Jupiter Communications, a New York research firm that follows e-commerce. "That's the reason it's becoming a crowded space very, very quickly."

Publicly, Walgreens is taking this onslaught of on-line competition calmly. "We are already moving full-speed ahead on our Internet plans. There's no change at all," said Michael Polzin, Walgreens' spokesman. "We will have a major presence and we won't let it pass us by."

Around the world: In the mid-1980s, the golden era of upscale department store retailing, Bloomingdale's would scour the globe for a country to use as a theme for its merchandise and marketing. One year, it was Italy, another China. Then Bloomie's would throw a lavish party that had chic New Yorkers talking for days.

Those halcyon days ended after the recession in the early 1990s. But strong marketing themes are hard to come by. So now Marshall Field's is trying its own hand at geographic themes as signposts for its spring collections.

Instead of one locale, however, Field's has chosen three: Athens, Greece; Marrakesh, Morocco; and Kauai, Hawaii.

Its apparel and home collections will be coordinated around three different color schemes related to the trio of exotic locales, which is being tied together under the banner "World Odyssey."

Athens is represented with soft colors and minimalist styling. Marrakesh is evoked with intense colors such as deep purples, burnt oranges and brown-reds with accents of khaki. Kauai's look is presented in aquatic colors such as deep blues and lush greens.

The three themes also will be reflected in the offerings of Field's restaurants, including the venerable Walnut Room, said Field's spokesman Lynne Galia.

The themes were picked out by the fashion trend team at Field's parent, Dayton Hudson Corp. in Minneapolis. They were then interpreted by store buyers, including those at Field's in Chicago, Galia said.

Whether or not World Odyssey is a hit, Field's already is organizing its fall collections around another three locations.